Who's Pete's backup?

[roger_that]

I know, Vientos, right? But last night's substitution of Siri pinch-running for Vientos, made me wonder: what happens now if Pete twists an ankle, or gets concussed by a pitch, or is otherwise unable to play? Just for fun, let's suppose the Marlins manage to tie the game up, and we have to play multiple innings with who at 1B? I have no idea.



For that matter, same scenario, but Lindor goes down. You move Acuna to SS, and Baty 2B, but with Vientos out of the game, who plays 3B now?

[MFS62]

I would have thought that Winker would be the backup first baseman.

But he has never played there in the majors. So, I don't know. Maybe move Baty to first?



As for the third baseman in that scenario, I'm not sure either.



Later

[Frayed Knot]

Who's Pete's backup?

Ringo

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, working with five infielders means that once you make one strategic substitution, you're in a spot if you have to make an injury substitution. And that's an issue with the roster, and they are a lot more screwed if one of the other guys gets hurt mid game than Pete.



But when it comes to firstbasemen, the short answer is that everybody is the backup. Luis Torrens has played over there (as well as second and third) as a big-leaguer. Jesse Winker and Hayden Senger both have some minor-league experience.

[Gwreck]

Tyrone Taylor is an athletic guy and I bet he could play almost any position in the field for a couple of innings if need be. He is already reportedly the emergency catcher.



The risk of not carrying multiple backup infielders is pretty well diminished by the clown car rules for extra innings — there's not much risk that someone would be playing out of position for a very long time.



This roster construction with only one backup infielder has been pretty consistent since…September of last year when McNeil broke his wrist? The only resulting “crunch” I can recall is the extra inning game against the Nationals in which Vientos was the ghost runner placed on second to start the 10th and was pinch-run for, meaning that Torrens would have to play infield if the Mets didn't win the game that half inning (which they did).

[roger_that]

=Gwreck post_id=189169 time=1744156039 user_id=56]
Tyrone Taylor... is already reportedly the emergency catcher.

[Gwreck]

Tim Healy of Newdsay reported it a day or two ago.